NCDOT offers first glimpse of I-26/191 interchange

Published: Friday, April 19, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 8:46 p.m.

More than 50 residents filed into an auditorium at the N.C. Arboretum Thursday to glimpse three designs the N.C. Department of Transportation has for revamping the Interstate 26/N.C. 191 interchange near Biltmore Square Mall.

During a drop-in meeting in the Arboretum’s Education Center, DOT officials presented conceptual maps of three alternatives designed to expedite traffic flow at the interchange.

All three options would alter the geometry and location of ramps to and from I-26, reducing traffic backups by creating two off-ramps instead of one, lengthening those ramps to store more vehicles before traffic lights change and widening curves to provide faster merging onto the interstate.

Two alternatives – Options C and F – involve an off-ramp heading north on Brevard Road that requires right-of-way within the Biltmore Estate, a difficult and costly proposition given the land’s status as a National Historic Landmark, said Civil Engineer Matthew Peach of Moffatt & Nichol, a Raleigh firm involved with the designs.

So a third alternative, Option G, takes the off-ramp further west of the 191 bridge and wraps it around Jim Barkley Toyota before reaching a stoplight on Brevard Road. That option not only avoids the Biltmore Estate, but offers “more stacking areas and more lanes to get traffic through the intersection,” Peach said.

In each design, the 191 bridge over I-26 is proposed to be widened to accommodate bike lanes and sidewalks on each side, said Michael Wray, a DOT project planning engineer.

All three alternatives would also require DOT to acquire right-of-way through the middle of three existing businesses on Brevard Road: Ethan Allen Design Center, the Hampton Inn Asheville–I-26 Biltmore Square Hotel and Petco Animal Supplies.

Although no timetable has been set for right-of-way acquisition and construction, the interchange project will likely coincide closely with a proposed widening of I-26, said Undrea Major, a DOT project development engineer. The widening project is scheduled to begin acquiring right-of-way in 2018, he said, with construction starting in 2020.

Thursday’s meeting was set up to gauge public reaction to the three alternatives and opinions ran the gamut, Wray said, from those who were delighted with a particular option to those who didn’t like any of them.

Asheville resident Claudia Nix fell into the latter camp, telling DOT officials and consultants that a chief cause of problems around the I-26/191 interchange are crashes caused further west at the bottlenecked I-26/I-40/I-240 interchange.

“That interchange needs to be dealt with first because that is awful and lives have been lost there,” Nix said.

Dick Wright, who owns 3 acres behind the Hampton Inn, was more sanguine.

“They’re going to do what they’re going to do,” Wright said. “Anything that gets that traffic flow improved is good. It’s horrendous through there. If you’re not watching, traffic is dead-stopped (on I-26) and you’re running 60 miles per hour.”

Dwayne and Charlene Harmon, who have lived on nearby Wedgefield Place for nearly three decades, came to see how the project might affect their work commutes.

“We’re just wondering what happens during construction because this isn’t going to happen overnight,” Charlene said. “I go 191 to 40, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I very seldom go I-26 in the morning because it’s crazy.”

Her husband said the couple has seen a lot of changes along 191 in their time there. Over the last 28 years, they’ve watched as Biltmore Square, K-Mart, Rodeway Inn, Fairfield Inn and Suites and Hampton Inn sprang up in former woods and fields.

“When we moved here, it was a two-lane road,” Dwayne said. “Now, thanks to all those motels, it’s dangerous. In the last 10 years or so, my son has been hit two times, my father-in-law was hit once and I was hit once.”

DOT hasn’t put the design maps online yet, but Wray said they will soon. Comments on the interchange project can be emailed to him at mgwray@ncdot.gov or mailed to 1548 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1548.

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